OUR VIEW: Suing to stop a bad law

Sunday

Aug 6, 2017 at 2:00 AMAug 6, 2017 at 11:30 AM

Volusia County has crawled out on a branch.

Florida’s House Bill 7069 is the K-12 education version of congressional efforts to reform health care. Both are mish-mashes of policies that made a mockery of the legislative process, fractured the Republican Party and have proved to be unpopular with the public.

The biggest difference between the two: HB 7069 passed and was signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott.

However, some school districts have refused to take it lying down. Recently, the Volusia County School Board voted 4-1 to join five other districts — Broward, Bay, Lee, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties — in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of HB 7069. At the VCSB’s July 25 meeting, Mike Dyer, the district’s general counsel, proposed Volusia County contribute $25,000 to the lawsuit — a sum that could increase.

(READ: Volusia school district to join five others suing state)

That initial investment may seem modest given the district’s $869.8 million tentative operating budget, but it comes at a time when school officials are having to cover a $1.8 million shortfall by raiding its reserves. And the district can’t afford to stay in the game if it has to keep pushing more chips into the pot.

Plus, it’s not like there’s a rush from other districts to get involved, despite the fact that virtually all of them share Volusia County’s distaste for the new law. Tuesday, Sarasota County voted not to join the suit, and on Thursday Clay County voted to delay making a decision. Members of other school boards have expressed reservations not only about the open-ended costs of the legal challenge, but also the risk involved in angering lawmakers, who largely control how districts are funded. That last concern was shared by Volusia County School Board Chairwoman Melody Johnson, the lone dissenting vote against joining the suit, who at the July 25 meeting said that bringing a lawsuit “against the entity that’s feeding you” may not be the best solution.

Those fears are not unfounded. In the past, the Legislature has sought ways to reduce or eliminate school board members’ pay, and in 2016 considered legislation that would have prevented the Florida School Boards Association from using public dollars (i.e., dues from member boards) to sue the state. Each was a reaction to school boards challenging state policies.

Volusia County is among those taking a principled — albeit risky and potentially costly — stand against a deeply flawed bill, one with which even GOP legislators have reservations.

Politico Florida reporter Jessica Bakeman last week provided a compelling peek behind the scenes (tinyurl.com/ybzma7sv) of how HB 7069 passed in the waning days of this year’s session. Relying on text messages between lawmakers and staff she obtained through a public records request, Bakeman presented a chaotic scramble to the deadline. Sen. David Simmons, chair of the chamber’s K-12 budget committee (and whose district includes a portion of southwest Volusia County), sought to rewrite the bill at the last minute. He feared the measure was unconstitutional because it wasn’t limited to a single subject (and indeed, that is a basis of the lawsuit). Simmons’ apostasy had Senate GOP leaders considering removing him from the process.

Meanwhile, Sen. Jack Latvala, the powerful appropriations chair, told a teachers union lobbyist that he was “fairly sure” that the governor would veto the bill. One wonders how many other legislators voted for the measure to satisfy their leadership, while expecting to be saved by a veto. Even the state’s Department of Education seemed disappointed that HB 7069 passed the Senate, barely.

Volusia County has crawled out on a branch. Unless a lot more districts follow suit, it’s going to be lonely and expensive out there, with a chance of it being sawed off. Unfortunately, that may be the only way remaining to stop a bad law.